tesg's guide to big chain road food consumption

CHAIN -- Whataburger
Owner -- Privately Held
Primary Operating Region -- Southern US and Mexico
Number of Locations -- Nearly 700 restaurants in 10 states (2007)

It's 7:15am on the Fourth of July, but I don't know this...until the counter guy at Whataburger, who has wandered to my table, says "You're up awful early for the Fourth of July."

"Oh yeah, it is the Fourth, isn't it," I say.

He goes into a conversation about how he'd usually be getting off work now, but for some reason got put onto the day shift, so he'll get off at three, so he'll get to go watch the fireworks or something.  Then he goes outside where everybody else who works here is hanging out.  Why not...Nobody else but me is there, and I have my food.  They're all still out there when I leave.  One of the other employees in the lot actually sticks his hand out to shake mine and says "You have a happy Fourth of July!"

"You do the same," I say, shaking his hand.

"He didn't even know it WAS the Fourth of July," says the counter guy.

"WHAT?!?"

"It's true.  I didn't."

That's my cue to leave, I think.

Those darn Texans.  Everything has to be bigger.  It's all about the size.

In an era where everybody was copying the McDonald's 15-cent hamburger format, Whataburger founder Harmon Dobson debuted his burger on a five-inch bun with a quarter-pound patty.   Dobson figured the bigger bun and patty would make Texans exclaim "What a burger!"  His original stand, a portable design (apparently Dobson's original model was to have a portable location so he could move as needed with the traffic flow), opened in Corpus Christi in 1950 and was an immediate hit.  The first franchise opened in 1953.  The first location outside of Texas opened in 1959 (Pensacola, FL).  Whataburger became known for their orange-striped A-frame buildings in the 1960's.  The center of Whataburger's "Flying W" logo represents the A-frame.  Dobson, a pilot with a love for flying, died in a plane crash in 1967.  The family carried on.

Growth continued throughout the South and, like a lot of chains, got out of hand.  Whataburger entered and exited markets like Denver and Las Vegas.  A revolving door of menu items and declining sales hurt the chain throughout the eighties before Dobson's son Tom took the title of CEO in 1993.  The chain refocused, remodeled aging stores, pared down the menu, and got back on track.  Today, Whataburger boasts nearly 700 locations, all but a hundred or so being in Texas.  Florida is the second most populated state.  Whataburger's expansion plans include filling gaps along the interstates in between. The chain is still privately held by the Dobson family.

The menu includes the usual suspects...Burgers (the Whataburger, double Whataburger, and Whataburger Jr), chicken sandwiches and strips, fries, onion rings, and a salad or two.  Breakfast sandwiches include some on biscuits, buns, and some breakfast burritos that are called Taquitos.  More about that later.  

Whataburger cooks to order.  Place your order at the counter, sit down, play Snake on your phone, and the food will come to you.  The drive-thru is open 24 hours (actually, I guess at least some locations have 24 hour dining rooms too) with breakfast available from 11pm to 11am.  The full lunch/dinner menu is available during breakfast hours, which is how it should be at all chains (hint hint).

The Whataburger itself is a plain (no sesame seeds) five-inch bun and patty topped with lettuce, tomato, diced onion, pickles, and mustard.  No ketchup, no mayo.  That's a Texas quirk, and may explain why Whataburger didn't do so well in further removed states.  If you aren't close to a Whataburger but are close to a Sonic Drive-In, get a Sonic No. 2 hamburger (called "Mustard Style" in markets where using numbers confuses dumb patrons).  The Whataburger is pretty much the same thing except bigger.  How GOOD it is will depend on the freshness of the ingredients...particularly the bun.  I've had some wonderful Whataburgers and some that tasted warmed over.  One of Whataburger's claims to fame is your ability to customize your Whataburger.  The most popular add-on is jalapenos.  Ketchup is available too if you must.

Back to the breakfast taquitos...See, the thing is, they aren't taquitos.  A taquito by my definition is a corn tortilla stuffed, rolled, and deep fried.  The Whataburger "taquito" is a flour tortilla stuffed, rolled, and maybe steamed.  It's a breakfast burrito.  It's good, certainly worth eating, but it's not a taquito.  Naturally, they're very popular.

What else?  The chicken strips, served with Texas toast and white gravy,  are average.  The Whatacatch fish sandwich is good, one of the better by my taste.  Fries, not so good.  But the onion rings...well these are just wonderful.  They're light, flaky, and really flavorful.  The onion rings are worth the trip themselves.  S

Modern Whataburgers have a roof in blue or white and orange that is sloped sort of like a traditional Stuckey's.  They have a more traditional flat roof design if needed due to development requirements of party-pooping master planners.  You'd think Texas would be above such snobbery, wouldn't you.  There's maybe a couple dozen A-frames still in existence today.

Whataburger is a much loved heritage chain that probably doesn't have a lot to offer to new markets already over saturated with entrenched competitors.  Texas and the South will always love their Whataburgers.  If they threw one up in Minneapolis, it'd probably just get lost in the shuffle.

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